Production Machining

MAY 2016

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Page 36 of 75

think in the machining side of TFT," says Cory Mack,
production supervisor.
Beyond Turn-Mill
Most recently, TFT began using a simultaneous fve-
axis turn-mill that has allowed the company to further
reduce cycle times for key parts, which it never could have
imagined—despite the company's experience with top turn-
mills. Te result has been improved part quality, even less
processing time per fnished part, and expanded production
capacity in the already well-equipped shop.
Tere are not only one, but two Index R300 fve-axis
turn-mills at TFT. Te machine uses two independent fve-
axis subsystems, each with one motorized milling spindle
and one assigned work spindle, and is able to completely
machine complex parts, short bars as long as 102 mm
and chucking as large as 315 mm in diameter, simultane-
ously. Te machine is geared toward applications where
large chuck parts require a lot of milling and drilling work,
such as farm machinery and machine construction, in
toolmaking, moldmaking or in the aerospace industry.
From simple to highly complex components, the main
beneft is that the complex machining operations are
possible simultaneously on the front and rear side, and, at
the same time, are highly productive with the two motor-
ized milling spindles.
Te R300 is also capable of hobbing or deep-hole drilling
with single-lip tools and high pressure coolant to 80 bar to
the tool edge through the motorized milling spindle.
Many Tools Shorten Processing Times
TFT can carry out full backworking as well as parallel
machining with identical sequences. Both heavy-duty
roughing operations and fne-turning operations can
be completed simultaneously on the main spindle and
counterspindle. A large-capacity toolchanger (as much as
140 tools in the double-chain magazine) ensure short setup
times even for small batches. Te tool storage capacity also
allows TFT to store enough tools for complete processing
of several diferent parts. Change-over is only a
matter of choosing the program.
"Te 12 stationary tools on the tool strips of
both milling spindles bring the total number of
tools to 152 tools available for a virtually unlim-
ited range of operations and machining fexibility,"
:: TFT's Blitzfre XX600 aluminum has been used to
help hone the company's multitasking skills across
various machine platforms. The Index turn-mill that the
part is now machined on has performed best in terms of
cycle time, quality and programmability.
:: Cory Mack (right) is the production
supervisor at TFT. Brandon Marcotte
operates and programs the company's
multitasking machines.
Multiple Ops on One Machine
productionmachining.com :: 35